"What does it mean?" cried Mrs. Varrick. He pointed to the fallen figure. "Gerelda has come back to torture me, mother!" he cried. By a terrible effort Gerelda struggled to her knees. "Hear me, one and all!" she cried. "Listen; while yet the strength is mine, I will proclaim it! See, I am dying--that man, my husband, is my murderer! He murdered me to keep me from touching the bell-rope--to tell you all I was here!" With this horrible accusation on her lips, Gerelda sunk back unconscious. Who shall picture the scene that ensued? "It is false--all false--so help me Heaven!" Hubert panted. That was all that he could say. The sound of the commotion within had reached the street, and had brought two of the night-watchmen hurrying to the scene. Their loud peal at the bell brought down a servant, who admitted them at once. In a trice they had sprung up the broad stair-way to the landing above, from whence the excited voices proceeded, appearing on the threshold just in time to hear Gerelda's terrible accusation. Each laid a hand on Hubert Varrick's shoulder. "You will have to come with us," they said. Mrs. Varrick sprung forward and flung herself on her knees before them. "Oh, you must not, you shall not take him!" she cried; "my darling son is innocent!" It was a mercy from Heaven that unconsciousness came upon her in that moment and the dread happenings of the world were lost to her. There were the bitterest wailings from the old servants as the men of the law led Hubert away. In the excitement no one had remembered Gerelda; now the servants carried her to a _boudoir_ across the hall, and summoned a doctor. "If this poor girl recovers it will be little short of a miracle," he said. Through all this commotion Jessie Bain slept on, little realizing the tragic events that were transpiring around her. No one thought of awakening her. The sun was shining bright and clear when she opened her eyes on the light the next morning. How strangely still the house seemed! For a moment Jessie was bewildered. Had it not been that the sun lay in a great bar in the center of the room--and it never reached this point until nearly eight in the morning--she would have thought that it was very, very early. "My wedding-day!" murmured the girl, slipping from her couch and gazing through the lace-draped windows on the white world without. But at that moment a maid entered and she told Jessie Bain the story of the tragedy. A thunder-bolt from a clear sky, the earth suddenly opening beneath her feet, could not have startled Jessie Bain more. A few minutes later she recovered her composure and hurried to Mrs. Varrick's room.